Making Headlines

I wanted to write a quick entry about something I have noticed about headlines with regards to modifying the event taking place with the country’s proper noun itself instead of using a possessive or even an adjective form of the country’s name. For example, I will read headlines such as “Japan earthquake is devastating” rather than “Japan’s earthquake is devastating” or “Japanese earthquake is devastating.”

Not all the headlines use this form, but I have noticed this trend on NBC and BBC News respectively, in addition to print on the internet. Here’s a really important question. Why was I watching NBC News?